Romanian League
2012-05-17 - Steaua Bucuresti vs Dinamo Bucuresti
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Romania : Liga 1
Venue: "National Arena", Bucuresti
Thursday 17th May – Kickoff time: 21:45 GMT+2
Steaua Bucuresti (3rd W-18 D-8 L-6)
Steaua will want to keep their title hopes alive with a victory against traditional rivals, Dinamo Bucuresti. Any result other than a home win and Steaua could say goodbye to the title once again.
The reverse fixture was won by Steaua, but they haven’t won a home game against Dinamo since a 1-0 victory back in 2007 with Marius Lacatus on the bench.
Steaua has a solid home record this season, with 11 victories in 16 games they actually have the best home record from the league. However, this match will be played at the National Arena stadium, the venue that hosted the Europa League final.
Regarding the squad there is only one new issue for coach Mihai Stoichita, as striker Nikolic is suspended for this match. I’m not sure he would have been included in the starting line-up though, so it’s not a huge loss.
Steaua’s home record:
10.05.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 31 Steaua 1 - 0 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt
03.05.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 29 Steaua 2 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
20.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 27 Steaua 0 - 1 FC Vaslui
08.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 25 Steaua 4 - 1 Sportul Studentesc
26.03.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 23 Steaua 0 - 0 Gaz Metan Medias
Dinamo Bucuresti (5th W-17 D-8 L-7)
This is yet another wasted season for Dinamo, despite being in lead for the most part of the season they have been so poor lately that they’ve ended up 5th, with no title hopes whatsoever.
When it comes to games against Steaua, surprisingly or not Dinamo has a better head to head record with 45 victories compared to Steaua’s 35 in the 125 clashes throughout their history.
Dinamo’s only chance to save this season is the Romanian Cup final where they’ll face Rapid Bucuresti, but considering their form they’ll be outsiders against Rapid as well.
This will probably be the last match in Dinamo’s shirt for emblematic strikers Ionel Danciulescu and Marius Niculae. These two scored more than 270 goals in Liga 1 combined. More than 200 of those were scored by 35 years old Danciulescu.
Midfielders Dorel Stoica and Munteanu are still recovering from injuries and will miss this match as well. Munteanu’s absence was probably one of the main reasons for Dinamo’s setback, he was their playmaker and since he’s out they couldn’t find the proper man to replace him.
Dinamo’s away form:
08.05.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 31 Vointa Sibiu 0 - 1 Dinamo
27.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 28 FC Brasov 2 - 0 Dinamo
16.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 26 Concordia Chiajna 1 - 3 Dinamo
01.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 24 Rapid 0 - 0 Dinamo
21.03.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 22 Otelul Galati 1 - 1 Dinamo
The Betting Verdict
With two games to go until the end of the season Steaua is still hoping, but their chances to win the title are rather slim, I would even be surprised to see them finish top 2.
However, playing against Dinamo does not require any further motivation, beating their rivals twice a season would be a decent compensations for not winning any trophies this season.
I’d say that some time ago these two had better squads, no team from Bucharest has won the title since 2007 which is a clear sign that they have lost their shine. This derby was played with the title on the table back some time, but now it has just become a battle for a Europa League spot.
Steaua will have the home advantage and their game is slightly better which makes me believe that they are the favorites to win this match, but in games like this previous results or head to head records are not that relevant.
The Pick :
Steaua Bucuresti 2-1 Dinamo Bucuresti
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Steaua Bucuresti to win at 2.00 at BetfredConfidence: 6/10
